Committees

COMMITTEES ARE THE HEART OF SCSY. WITH A 4:1 DELEGATE TO CHAIR RATIO, METICULOUSLY DETAILED TOPIC GUIDES AND CRISIS MAPS, AND SOME OF THE SMARTEST STUDENTS IN THE WORLD, COMMITTEES TAKE DEBATE TO A NEW LEVEL.

19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES | THE PAST

The Gilded Age, the end of US 19th century, saw rapid industrialization, urbanization, the construction of great transcontinental railroads, innovations in science and technology, and the rise of big business. Immigration brought racial tensions. Financial volatility brought major depressions. Reconstruction catalyzed a whole new approach to life. Prohibition and women’s suffrage pervaded public debate. Arguably, it was the best of times and the worst of times although the chairs expect that for delegates, it will always be the worst of times. Unquestionably one of the most influential periods of American history, the Gilded Age provides crucial lessons even for today and will challenge delegates to think in those terms.

Welcome to undivided British India, summer 1947. Sectarian violence is breaking out all across the country. Colonial rule is under intense pressure from a burgeoning independence movement. And the British are growing more anxious by the day. Will India split apart, and if so, among which fault lines? Can conflicts between the young nation’s warring factions be resolved peacefully, or do these disputes require a more forceful approach? Does the country’s real power rest with British-educated intellectuals, or iron-fisted regional leaders? As a delegate, you will be tasked with resolving these pressing questions, and many more. The future of South Asia, and the lives of all its citizens, is at stake. Good luck!

Delegates will assume the roles of various Soviet Politburo members in the year following Stalin's death. Using diplomacy and varied power bases, delegates will vie for power of the Soviet Union, trying to advance their own agendas, while simultaneously trying to ensure the success of the Soviet Union; the vanguard of the great communist movement. In between back stabs, alliances, and politicking, delegates will try to properly address a broad range of domestic and foreign issues, creating a complex and exciting experience reminiscent of one of the most chaotic times in the Soviet Union's history.

Get ready to partake in a world of atomic bombs, angry Cuban leaders, and questionable alliances as we delve into the Cuban Missile Crisis. Delegates will be representing the views of President John F. Kennedy’s Executive Committee. While delegates are expected to know their Cold War history, expect different and complex crisis unlike those in your standard history book. Ultimately, the objective of the Committee remains the same: to avoid nuclear war at all costs.

The 1968 Presidential Election was one of the most important ones in American history, pitting the intense Richard Nixon against the robust Hubert Humphrey. Old deals will be questioned, scandals will be revealed, Cold War crises will emerge, civil rights controversies will pervade and healthy (and unhealthy) political competition will define the days. In seating a unique Democratic and Republican convention-of-sorts, the scenarios will challenge participants to analyze and critique the players involved in the most important American political events of the twentieth century.

21ST CENTURY | THE PRESENT

The African Union is in a potential to solidify its unity and expand its power to make a difference for the continent. There are various intricacies involved in not only increasing Pan-African unity but also in developing adequate and multifaceted responses to crises that may evolve. The ultimate goal of the delegates must be to increase the sustainable development of the African continent while also pragmatically debating issues such as the Ebola Outbreak, Terrorism in Africa, cultural and social divisions in the union, representing nations and organizations that are in the African Union and involved with the African continent, respectively.

Once reduced to a superficial Cold War battlefield, Southeast Asia and its vanguard, ASEAN, has returned to mainstream discourse as a hotspot of economic growth but perhaps also a zone on the brink of political crises. From the re-emergence of Myanmar and the proliferation of Islamist terrorism to tense island disputes and refugee chaos, the region today is in the midst of serious and unexpected crises. Insurgencies in Kachin State, Burma, secessionist movements in the Southern Philippines, pirate invasions in Sabah, Malaysia. From this internal conflict comes a fertile breeding ground for extremist movements, and a ripe recruiting pool for international terrorist organizations. The committee will take charge of the region from within rather than externally and superficially as is often done to address questions such as America’s pivot to Asia and the role of China.

State collapse is a rising problem for the global community. How do we navigate the primary directive of respecting state sovereignty if states can't function themselves? How can we mitigate the consequences of state collapse on neighboring countries, interconnected economies, and the preservation of cultural heritage? What is the most effective plan of recovery? Most importantly, what causes collapse, and how can we predict it? In this committee, we'll examine a past collapse, and then run a simulation of collapse for a state currently on the brink.

A nation on the brink of collapse. A leader reviled and condemned by the international community. Riots, instability, dissatisfaction, frustration, rage. Libya’s political climate after 42 years of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s vigilant regime is nothing short of explosive. In this harshest of national atmospheres, specially-appointed U.N. Advisory Legal Panel will try Muammar Gaddafi, otherwise known as the “brother leader” of Libya, for crimes against humanity reportedly committed in February of this year. This committee is charged with a most unusual and sacred legal task, and so will adhere to strict legal regulations and will demand the highest level of judicial aptitude from its members. Impartial judges from around the world will come to judge the guilt of a man who may or may not have prompted the mass murder of thousands–a man who ignited a revolution.

In 1967, Ralph Lauren began making ties in New York City. Today, Ralph Lauren Corporation is a publicly traded holding company, which through its subsidiaries, sells luxury clothing, accessories, fragrances, and home furnishings. It's a multi-billion dollar company with 23,000 employees. Delegates in this committee will navigate the worlds of business and fashion in order to lead RL into the next generation.

The rise of ISIS: The rise of groups such as the Islamic State (colloquially referred to as ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has radically changed the balance of power across the Middle East, placing the National Security Council at the heart of one of the most important discussions about the future of Iran. The Council will discuss the growing influence of ISIS and other such groups, determining how best to position Iran in the ever-changing political and military climate of the region. With ISIS' rapid accumulation of territory, the Council must consider targeted measures to ensure the safety and security of Iranian citizens for years to come.

In an odd turn of events, Europe today has become one of the world's most unstable continents. The rise of the far-right and Brexit have accompanied one of the world's worst migrant crises since the Second World War. Moreover, Europe's own internal economic woes have continued to fester, creating discord and anxiety regarding the integrity and prosperity of the Union. With a worsening situation in Turkey, debates over the burkini, a surge in terrorism, neverending civil wars in the Middle East, calls for a European army, troubled negotiations over Brexit, calls for a migrant quota system and various other dilemmas, Europe has become one of the most fascinating centers of debate and discussion in the world. This committee will put delegates right in the center of the discord and enable them to deal with the continent's new challenges in real time with a special focus on the migrant crisis.

Beginning in 2006, Mexico’s drug cartels have been involved in a bitter conflict against the Mexican military, local governments, and more in a war that has claimed an estimated 120,000 lives. The Mexican Drug War as it became to be known saw the demise of numerous cartels and drug lords. Mexico’s cartels are now a shadow of their former selves, as just a fraction of the cartels found a decade ago remain, many of which only exist as small splinter groups rather than the all-powerful organizations they once were. As the United States and Mexico get closer to ridding the region of cartels once and for all, this committee represents the last hope for the cartels to reclaim their former glory. Will the remaining drug lords succumb to infighting and government pressure? Or will the cartels be able to unite together and once again bring the country to its knees?

THE FUTURE

The year is now 2055. There are rumors that Kim Jong-Un, the leader of North Korea, is sick with colon cancer with no apparent heir. Due to a trade dispute in 2033, the United States and South Korea severed their military alliance, forcing South Korea to rapidly militarize. Fortunately for South Korea, their armament was successful, and they have risen to be a preeminent military power in East Asia. At a time of relative weakness and uncertainty for North Korea, South Korea has invited high ranking representatives from the USA, North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, ASEAN, and NATO to discuss the potential reunification of the Korean peninsula.

50 years in future, the various coalition spheres of influence of the world are eagerly waiting the announcement from the UN on a petition to the Security Council to allow the colonization of space and more importantly, the moon. What will be the implications of this decision on the world, coalitions, and individual nation states? What will the potential opening up of the frontier of space mean for man? These questions and more will be at the crux of this high-octane committee.

TIMELESS

In a world in which young girls are genetically transformed into superheroes, where do we draw boundaries of justice? How do we operate a society where five year-olds are working alongside police departments and international organizations to ensure national and worldwide security? The Powerpuff Girls committee will consider challenging questions of morality and international security, while operating on the edge of a fictional world that intersects very tangibly with the world in which we find ourselves in 2016.

AFTER THE EXECUTION OF Neddard Stark, Warden of the North, King Joffrey Baratheon holds a tentative grip over the Seven Kingdoms. He summons all of his vassals to the court to make them pay homage to his legitimacy. However, rumor suggests that King Joffrey is not the child of the deceased King Robert Baratheon, but rather a product of incest between the Queen and her brother. All of the lords that come to King’s Landing and the Iron Throne want to increase their own power, if not claim the throne for themselves. However, this could divide and weaken the Seven Kingdoms just as winter is coming…

Today, many people's entire worldview is framed by the information they seek and receive from news and journalism organizations. From the well-known BBC and Reuters to the popular BuzzFeed and Vice, new organizations are a driving force around the world. Aside from reporting what’s going on, news organizations have spearheaded political, social and economic change with a speed and authority unimaginable to politicians: Bob Woodward brought down the Nixon administration by reporting the Watergate scandal, Bethany McLean brought the Enron corporation to justice by examining their finances; Chai Jing made China's 1.2 billion people reconsider their climate change priorities. At YMUN XLII, we are bringing this spirit of investigation and inquiry to the conference through the Press Corps committee, open to delegates via application. Delegates in this committee will have the special opportunity to report on conference and real-world events from an objective, third-person viewpoint and deconstruct global affairs issues through interviews, research, and analysis in both writing and multimedia.